You'll Land Soft If You Fall Slowly
by make-love-happen
Summary: VERY AU. Clara meets the Doctor on a faithful rainy Wednesday. He gets depressed shortly after, because his girlfriend dies. She helps him get back up, but in the meantime she falls in love. Based on the song 'Falling Slowly'.


**You'll Land Soft If You Fall Slowly**

* * *

_I don't know you_, _but I want you_

_all the more for that_

She meets him on a faithful Wednesday. Really, there's nothing absolutely special about Wednesdays, but this one is special. Because this particular Wednesday is the Wednesday she meets the Doctor.

Actually, their meeting isn't pretty. They bump into eachother on the street and he spills his coffee literally all over her and she yells at him. She's just about to stomp off in her ruined dress to try and save her shoes, when he grabs her arm and offers her a tea and a shopping trip to get a new dress.

So she lets herself get dragged into the most nearby coffee shop in London on that faithful rainy Wednesday in March.

He orders her a green tea with like six muffins because he feels guilty and she can't help it, but she just _has _to laugh because he ends up eating all the muffins himself.

They end up talking in that coffee shop for hours.

His name is John Smith, but he goes by the Doctor because of his disregard towards his parents. He tells her 'the Doctor' is a silly nickname from when he was in college and planning to go to medical school after.

When she asks him why he didn't, he answers: 'Because it didn't fit me. The arts did.'

They bond over the fact that they're both performers of the art.

When the coffee shop closes, they've got eachother's numbers. He hugs her goodbye and then she's lost him in the crowd.

And she can help but think that this might be the best bloody rainy Wednesday in March she's ever had.

* * *

_Words fall through__ me, and always fool me_

_and I can't react_

When they meet again a week later, he seems different. Where first there was a talkative, strong man, he's now silent and small. She asks him what's wrong. He doesn't answer. She opens her mouth to ask further, but before she can even get the first word out of her mouth, he talks.

'My girlfriend was hit by a truck.'

It comes out so fast and so blunt that she could've easily thought he was joking. But then she sees a fresh little tear roll out of the corner of his eyes and she knows he is not joking.

She remains silent, at a loss for words, simply not knowing what to say.

So instead, she cries with him.

* * *

_Take this sinking boat and point it home_

_We've still got time_

He doesn't eat or talk for days. She finds out he does not have a good bond with his family, and that he doesn't have many friends or any sort of social network at all.

It's sad, that in times like these, she, who barely knows him, has to take care of him.

She does, though. She makes sure he eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. She makes sure he washes and shaves.

It doesn't make a lot of difference. He gets fired from his work, and that makes him even more miserable. She spends every free hour of her day with him, causing her to almost get fired from her work, and ruining her social contacts.

But it's worth it because she knows she is saving a life that is definitely worth saving.

* * *

_Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice_

_You've made it now_

And she's right, because after weeks and weeks and months (she's lost count) of being depressed, he gets back up bit by bit.

And then suddenly, he's back again.

She asks him how he did it. He says he made the right choice.

Because he found that he mattered to someone right when he thought he didn't. His eyes lock on hers and she just _knows_ he's talking about her.

They've conquered together.

* * *

_Falling slowly, eyes that know me_

_And I can't go back_

They become best friends and well - they practically don't leave eachother's side. They learn to live with eachother's flaws and embrace them.

She's the one to suggest they become roommates. He's the one to jump up in the air and scream YES.

There are days when he doesn't come home until late at night and she almost starts to worry but before she can he always comes back.

There are times when she feels terrible amd he curls her up in a blanket on the couch and makes her hot chocolate until she feels even more sick because of that.

There are times when they sit on the couch until the next morning and talk about authentic Broadway plays, books with original endings and drawings in the style of Keith Haring.

She falls for him.

Slowly, but surely, she falls.

And there's no going back

* * *

_Well, you have suffered enough_

_And warred with yourself, it's time that you won_

And it isn't until next New Year's Eve until it happens.

The moment she sees he's fallen as well.

It's almost midnight and they're counting the seconds until the New Year. She's opening up their second bottle of champagne and he is taking an anxious look at the clock.

Ten... She finally succeeds in opening the champagne.

Nine... Eight... Seven... She fills up their glasses.

Six... Five...

Their eyes lock and they stay like that for the rest of the Old Year. And before they know it, it's the New Year and they're drinking champagne and they tear their gazes away from eachother.

But she's seen it. And she knows it.

_Take this sinking boat and point it home_

_We've still got time_

It's only a few seconds later when another 'it' happens.

He leads her outside, out to the fireworks and he seems to say something but she can't hear him because the fireworks are so loud. Amd he takes the champagne out of her hands and he looks into her eyes, and it takes her about six seconds to realise that his eyes are the most beautiful colour she's ever seen and _he's kissing her._

I think you can imagine the rest.

_Raise your hopeful voice, you have the choice_

_You've made it now_

_Falling slowly, sing your melody_

_I'll sing it loud_

* * *

**Hey! I haven't written Doctor Who before (although this is hardly DW), but I am a big fan so I decided it was time! This is ClaraxEleven because I'm still not over Matt. **_  
_

**The song is called Falling Slowly, and it's from the movie / musical 'Once', which is an all-time favorite of mine. **

**Thank you for reading! xx**


End file.
